COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 18th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team (17-9, 6-6 SEC) wraps up its regular season against No. 19 Texas A&M (14-9, 6-6 SEC) Friday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The regular-season finale will begin no earlier than 2:30 p.m. and will follow the conclusion of the Texas A&M men’s match, which begins at noon. Both the Lady Tigers and Aggies hold 6-6 records in conference are vying for the sixth seed in next week’s conference tournament and a critical win to boost their resume for the opportunity to host an NCAA Regional.
“We always looking forward to competing and having another opportunity to get better,” co-head coach Julia Sell said. “This match is particularly exciting because of the epic battle we had with this team last year and the fact that both teams are on the bubble to host. The winner of this will certainly have a better chance to stay in the top-16.”
LSU heads into the matchup with Texas A&M with 17 wins, which ties the best mark under Sell and the best record since 1997.
The Lady Tigers are coming off of a 5-2 win over Tennessee in the regular season home finale. Seniors Ella Taylor and Skylar Kuykendall secured wins for the team’s third and fourth point. Taylor defeated Tiffany Tavares of Tennessee 6-3, 7-6 on court six. Kuykendall clinched her fourth SEC match of the season 7-6, 6-4 against Brittany Lindl on court four.
Over the weekend, junior Abby Owens defeated Tennessee’s Ashley Bongart and Georgia’ Mariana Gould. Owens improved to 29-7 for the 2015-16 season, 20-4 in dual matches and 11-1 in conference matches. Owens is just one win shy of becoming the 16th player in school history to reach the 30-win mark in a single season.
Texas A&M leads the all-time series 26-14 in the series that dates back to 1978. Last season, LSU fell to the Aggies in the regular season, 3-4. The Lady tigers returned in the quarterfinal of the SEC Tournament and defeated No. 7 Texas A&M for the highest ranked win under Sell.
This season, the Aggies hold a 3-5 record against Top-25 opponents and are 10-2 at home. Most recently, Texas A&M defeated No. 8 South Carolina for the team’s highest ranked win of the season. Saska Gavrilovska leads the way on court one with a ranking of 32 in singles.
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